1. Technical Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to an image recording device having a recordation head mounted on a carriage moving in a predetermined direction to perform image recordation on a sheet of paper placed on a platen.
2. Related Art
Ink jet type printers which perform image recordation on a sheet of recording medium such as a sheet of paper have been widely used. In the printer of this type, the sheet of paper is carried to a platen while being sandwiched by a pair of rollers located to face with each other. When the sheet of paper reaches the platen, the pair of rollers are driven intermittently so that, while the rollers are stopped intermittently, ink drops are ejected from a recordation head during a reciprocating motion of the recordation head. By thus ejecting ink drops from the recordation head to the sheet of paper, a required image can be formed on the sheet of paper. That is, by repeating such motion, the image recordation is performed successively from the leading edge to the trailing edge of the sheet of paper.
In general, the printer is capable of performing the image recordation on various types of recording medium including an envelope. Furthermore, there is a case where, after image recordation is performed on one side of a sheet of paper, image recordation is further performed on the other side of the sheet of paper in the image recording device, for the purpose of double-side printing or reuse of sheets of paper. In this regard, it should be noted that if the recording medium such as an envelope having a folded part is used, a possibility that a part of the envelope protruding toward the recordation head contacts a carriage or the recordation head arises.
Regarding the double-side printing, there is a case where warpage is caused on a sheet of paper when the image recordation is performed on one side of the sheet of paper. In this case, the warped part of the sheet of paper might contact the carriage or the recordation head when the image recordation is performed for the other side of the sheet of paper. Regarding reuse of sheets of paper, there is a possibility that warpage is produced on a sheet of paper when the image recordation is performed, and the warped part of the sheet of paper contacts the carriage or the recordation head.
If the sheet of paper contacts the carriage or the recordation head, the sheet of paper might be damaged. Recently, the interval between the sheet of paper and the recordation head is becoming shorter for the purpose of achieving high-precision image recordation, and therefore the possibility of paper jamming due to the above described reasons is increasing.
Sheets of paper includes vertical paper grain type paper of which direction of fibers is oriented in the vertical direction and lateral paper grain type paper of which direction of fibers is oriented in the lateral direction. If the sheet of paper of the lateral paper grain type is used while being carried in the direction of the longer side of the paper, relatively larger warpage is produced on the sheet of paper in comparison with the vertical paper grain type paper. Therefore, in addition to the case of the double-side printing, the paper jamming may be caused in the single-side printing. Such a problem of paper jamming is caused not only in the inkjet printers but also in dot-impact printers.
Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2002-240380A (hereafter, referred to as JP 2002-240380A) discloses a dot impact printer having a carriage on which a recordation head is mounted. More specifically, in this printer, a strip-shaped film is connected to the carriage, and the film is wound by winding rollers provided at both end portions defined in an opening in which the carriage moves. The film contributes to preventing occurrence of paper jamming by moving together with the carriage.
Japanese Utility Model Provisional Publication No. HEI 5-41816U (hereafter, referred to as JP HEI 5-41816U) also discloses a printer having a belt connected to a carriage for preventing occurrence of paper jamming.